The story behind Beloved

Posted 7th July 2016

The story behind Beloved.

The inspiration for Beloved is sitting right here on a shelf in my work room.

A squishy, lavender filled heart in my favourite shade of lichen green, made by English knitwear designer Catherine Tough. A present from my friend Jackie, it has become a treasured posession which is hugely comforting to hold in times of stress, and calming to look at when things are going well. Next to it is a cute folklore gift tag made of painted wood which arrived on a parcel at Christmas, too nice not to keep.

A little shelf full of hearts.

The first Beloved necklace came about because I was experimenting with Albion stitch and the ways in which it has similarities to crochet. The challenge to self was to see if the beads could form gently rounded shapes in three dimensions, one experiment grew into a little heart shape. Which led to more heart shapes.

The one I settled on was this. I added a loop at the top, then had fun making a tassel and beady beads to go with. I found myself wearing it a lot, having conversations about it, enjoying it’s versatility.

So, I decided to see if the pattern would work in other colours too. I like the gentle sparkle of mineral metallic in the original so I kept that in. Next with thoughts of romantic hearts in mind, I chose shades of pink inspired by this gorgeous rose.

Then I got to thinking about wild hearts, the rebels wearing denim and their hearts on their sleeves, this colour mix is my second fave as it is a perfect fit with jeans and whatever.

If you’re a true romantic you can fold away a secret on a slip of paper to tuck inside the soft as a cloud cotton wool stuffing. Add some dried Lavender or a couple of drops of Rose essential oil and the pendant becomes a pretty pomander to hang in your room.